Page images
PDF
EPUB

SERMON XXI.

THE DUTY OF IMITATING GOD.

EPHESIANS V. 1.

Be ye followers of God, as dear children.

MOST excellent advice, and a most suitable motive to enforce it! Before I discourse on either I would lay down the following preliminary observations:

1. This imitation must be considered as a partial one. There are some attributes of the Divine Being, to affect which would argue the greatest impiety, for it would be to invade the throne of the Most High, and to say, as the prince of Tyrus, "I am a God!" This was the bait our first parents eagerly caught at; and thereby, instead of exalting, degraded themselves and their whole offspring. And as all the divine perfections, so all the divine works, are not the objects of our imitation. "Hast thou an arm like God?" says the Parent of all things to his servant Job; "or canst thou thunder with a voice like his?" We cannot create a worm, nor, having plunged ourselves into misery, contribute any thing to our own restoration.

2. Even in those things in which we may and ought to imitate God, our imitation of him will be very imperfect; the copy will still fall far short of the great original. Those perfections which are communicable are not fully so; we follow him, but it is as Ascanius followed Æneas, non

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

1. T... ..: and strength by willich we thus follow God, must be received from him. Let there must be, for followog God certainly supposes some previous acquaintance with him, and strength, for we shall meet with much discouragemen) and opposition: so that the alvice in my text is

16 none but saints, for none but saints can comply with it. Others have neither will nor power to do so. We cannot follow God till we are come to him; and we are incapable of any motion towards him, till we are made alive by him. A carnal person could not follow God if he would, and he would not if he might, for he has an inherent enmity to him; and where there is an alienation there can never be a voluntary imitation. Thas when the apostle adds.---" as dear children," it implies that we must be born of God, and changed by his grace into a childlike disposition, before we can be followers of him. The internal operation of the Spirit is absolutely necessary to qualify us for, and excite us to, this and every other good work.

I proceed next to consider both the advice given and the motive by which it is enforced.

I. The advice given,-" Be ye followers," not of your parents, your ministers, or of me, an apostle, but" of God." Now this imitation of God may respect,

1. His moral excellence. We should imitate his justice, in rendering to every one his due, and abstaining from all acts of violence and oppression; his holiness, by a separation from, and hatred to, all sin and impurity; his goodness and mercy, by acts of benevolence and compassion; his faithfulness and truth, by the sincerity of our aims, and by maintaining a constant consistency between our thoughts and our words, our words and our actions. "God," says an heathen author, "is angry with those who imitate his works of majesty; but he takes pleasure in those who imitate his virtue." The best of men are imperfect examples; but as far as we make God our pattern, there is no possibility of our acting amiss. "That ye may be blameless and harmless," says the apostle, "the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world." The more wise, holy, active, and fruitful we are, the more we resemble God.

applied to the governHe who would be a

2. This imitation of God may be ment of the temper and conduct. follower of God, must have a due government over his own spirit, and keep his passions under proper control. If we are easily provoked to anger, and hard to be appeased, we do not imitate that God who is slow to anger, and swift to show mercy. He who would follow God must frequently review his past actions: even the Creator of the world looked back upon every day's work, and pronounced it very good; he found the transcript perfectly correspond with the original in his own mind-nothing superfluous, nothing wanting.

3. This may respect our conduct in our families. Have we servants? All are God's servants, and he does not rule

infinitely holy, light without any mixture of darkness; but imperfection is the natural and constant attendant of every creature. We read of one, and of one only, who "thought it not robbery to be equal with God;" for, "behold, the heavens are not clean in his sight, and he chargeth his angels with folly."

3. Though there can never be an exact resemblance, yet there should be a growing conformity to God; there should be a vigorous pressing on towards that state of rectitude and perfection which is attainable. To approach nearer and nearer to duty, should be the saints' endeavour upon earth, as it will be their happiness in heaven. This is what the apostle Paul expresses by a being "changed into the same image, from glory to glory;" and what he himself aimed at, and used his utmost endeavours to attain. "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

4. The light and strength by which we thus follow God, must be received from him. Light there must be, for following God certainly supposes some previous acquaintance with him; and strength, for we shall meet with much discouragement and opposition: so that the advice in my text is given to none but saints, for none but saints can comply with it. Others have neither will nor power to do so. We cannot follow God till we are come to him; and we are incapable of any motion towards him, till we are made alive by him. A carnal person could not follow God if he would, and he would not if he might, for he has an inherent enmity to him; and where there is an alienation there can never be a voluntary imitation. Thus when the apostle adds," as dear children," it implies that we must be born of God, and changed by his grace into a childlike disposition, before we can be followers of him. The internal operation of the Spirit is absolutely necessary to qualify us for, and excite us to, this and every other good work.

I proceed next to consider both the advice given and the motive by which it is enforced.

I. The advice given,-" Be ye followers," not of your parents, your ministers, or of me, an apostle, but "of God." Now this imitation of God may respect,

1. His moral excellence. We should imitate his justice, in rendering to every one his due, and abstaining from all acts of violence and oppression; his holiness, by a separation from, and hatred to, all sin and impurity; his goodness and mercy, by acts of benevolence and compassion; his faithfulness and truth, by the sincerity of our aims, and by maintaining a constant consistency between our thoughts and our words, our words and our actions. "God," says an heathen author, "is angry with those who imitate his works of majesty; but he takes pleasure in those who imitate his virtue." The best of men are imperfect examples; but as far as we make God our pattern, there is no possibility of our acting amiss. "That ye may be blameless and harmless," says the apostle, "the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world." The more wise, holy, active, and fruitful we are, the more we resemble God.

applied to the governHe who would be a

2. This imitation of God may be ment of the temper and conduct. follower of God, must have a due government over his own spirit, and keep his passions under proper control. If we are easily provoked to anger, and hard to be appeased, we do not imitate that God who is slow to anger, and swift to show mercy. He who would follow God must frequently review his past actions: even the Creator of the world looked back upon every day's work, and pronounced it very good; he found the transcript perfectly correspond with the original in his own mind-nothing superfluous, nothing wanting.

3. This may respect our conduct in our families. Have we servants? All are God's servants, and he does not rule

« PreviousContinue »